The Boys Who Grew Up
by arrandomness
Summary: Deleted scenes showing how Lily and James became friends. After the scene in "Snape's Worst Memory" and "The Prince's Tale."


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

The Boys Who Grew Up

_"I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK!"_

_"She turned on her heel and hurried away."_

James walked by himself through the Forbidden Forest, remembering the events of the afternoon. He kicked a rock hard into a tree. "Ugh!" he said. "I'll show her! Arrogant, bullying toerag." He vowed, right then and there, to change.

He pulled his Invisibility Cloak out of his robes and put it on. It was after curfew; he wasn't in the mood for a face-off with Filch.

Walking back into the castle, he brooded over what he was going to do to change Evans's mind about him. He supposed the only thinks he really could do were to stop hexing people and give her more compliments. _OK, the compliments I can do,_ he thought, _but hexing people is what I do when people annoy me. If I stop, I'll lose my rep!"_

He couldn't figure out what to do. But this was soon driven out of his mind, for as he neared the portrait of the Fat Lady, he cam upon an unexpected scene. Snivellus was standing outside Gryffindor Tower, pleading with Evans.

"I only came out here because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here." Evans told Snape coldly. Damn, she was mad. James was glad the anger was finally directed somewhere besides him.

The two finished their conversation, and when Evans turned to go back inside the portrait hole, it was with a cold finality. James was sure their friendship was over. Finally. He was sure she would be a much more pleasant person to be around without his influence.

He followed her through the portrait hole so as to avoid detection. Intead of going up to bed, though, he was surprised to see Evans sit down in an armchair and start bawling.

_Oh, boy,_ he thought. He'd never been good with crying girls. Emotion scared him. So he did the only sensible thing he could think of: he ran upstairs and woke Remus.

"Moony!" he said. "Remus! Wake up!"

"What is it?" Remus asked.

"Evans is downstairs crying! Go help her!"

"What about?" Remus grabbed his wand and put robes over his pajamas.

"Fight with Snape. She doesn't know I saw."

"OK," said Remus. He walked down the stairs. james put the cloak back on and followed.

"Lily?" Remus asked tentatively. "What's wrong?"

"She looked up at him. "How did you know I was down here?"

"I thought I heard a noise," Remus lied. "Now what's wrong?"

"Everything!" Evans sobbed. "Severus and I just got in a huge fight, and I don't think we're friends anymore!"

"Come here," said Remus, holding out his arms. Evans moved closer and Remus folded her into his arms as she cried into his shoulder. "What did you fight about?"

"He called me 'Mudblood' this afternoon. I just--couldn't forgive him for that. He came here to try to apologize, but I wouldn't let him. I told him I couldn't put up with him and his Death Eater friends anymore-and then he didn't even deny that he wanted to be a Death Eater! But apparently the dark arts are more important than me!"

"Hey, hey," Remus interjected, lifting her head up. "Look at me. _Nothing_ is less important than the dark arts. Especially a friendship. If Snape can't see that, then it's his loss, and you're a big something to lose. You're a great person, Lily. Don't let anybody make you think otherwise."

"But look at this. I've been carrying it around all day." She pulled a piece of weird, thin, bright white lined parchment out of her pocket and handed it to Remus. "See?" she said after he finished reading. "Even my own sister hates me."

"She just doesn't understand, that's all," Remus soothed her. "She'll come around."

Evans snorted unattractively. "Not likely. I've been a freak since the first day of first year. Ever since me 'n' Sev--" she broke off crying again. How could there be so many tears in one girl?

"This is going to sound kind of rude," Remus began after a while, "But what did you see in him anyway?"

"Well, he was my best friend. He lives near me. My sister and I were playing in the park and Sev saw me doing magic when I was about ten. He introduced me to the world of magic. He told me it didn't matter if I was Muggleborn. We've been friends ever since. Until today! It's all Potter's fault!"

"How do you work that one out?" Remus asked, confused.

"If he hadn't been taunting Severus, he wouldn't have gotten so mad and called me a Mudblood."

James was shocked. How the hell could she blame this on him? It was Snivellus's own damn fault that he didn't value her enough. He was about to whip off his Cloak when Remus spoke again.

"I don't think that's fair Lily. Yes, James and Sirius did upset him quite a bit, but anger only brings out what lied dormant inside you. It doesn't create new feelings. I believe that this has been coming on for years, fueled by his pureblooded friends. He would have snapped eventually."

"But Potter--"

"Let me ask you something." What if something else had caused his outburst? If James wasn't there? Whose fault would it be then? I think you're just looking for a scapegoat, and James is convenient because he was there and you don't like him."

Lily was silent. "Can I tell you a secret?" Remus asked her. She nodded. "I didn't really hear you crying down here. James did. He saw you needed a shoulder to cry on, so he got me, because he thought if you saw him you'd get even more upset."

"What?"  
"He really does like you, Lily. He's just a teenage boy with an ego the size of an acromantula." James huffed silently. "I'm sure once he pokes a hole in his head and matures a bit, it'll be easier for you to be around him."

"But what about you?" Evans asked. "You're a teenage boy. And you're mature and sensitive."

Remus laughed humorlessly. "I'm a special case I was forced to grow up at the age of five. Believe me, I'd love to be as carefree as James and Sirius."

"Are you a werewolf?" Evans blurted out. Then her eyes widened, and she clapped her hands over her mouth. "I'm so sorry!" she whispered. "I didn't mean to say that! Oh, you probably think I'm a horrible person."

Remus smiled sadly. "No, you're not. And yes, I am. How did you guess?"

"Severus had suspicions. Then I started watching you, and everything fit."

"Yep. Feel free to never talk to me again if you wish," he said bitterly. "I won't be mad at you."

"Never, Remus," Evans said. "It doesn't matter to me. You're still a great person." She yawned hugely. "I am dead beat. Thanks for coming to talk to me." She seemed to be battling with herself. "And tell Potter I said thanks, too," she said grudgingly. "No, wait. I'll tell him tomorrow at breakfast."

"OK," said Remus, smiling. He stood up and held out his hand. "Up we go." He pulled her to her feet.

"Thanks again Remus." Evans kissed his cheek and went upstairs.

As soon as the door closed, Remus said, "OK, James, I know you're down here. Please take some of what was said to heart. I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

The next morning, Lily walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Potter sat there by himself, looking extremely tired. She battled herself, but her feet had taken her to the empty seat next to him before her brain had registered what was going on. He looked up, surprised, then stood. "Ev--Lily, will you come with me?" he asked her. "I need to talk to you."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Alone with you?"

He thought for a minute. "Here," he said. He handed her his wand. "I'm unarmed. I won't do anything to you. I swear I just want to talk."

She took his wand, then, against her better judgment, followed him into the entrance hall. He sat down against the wall and motioned to the spot next to him. She sat.

"Potter, Remus told me what you did last night." Lily started. "And I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but thanks."

"You're welcome," Potter said tiredly. "OK, Ev--Lily'--"

"Why do you keep calling me Lily? You've never done that before."

"I'll get to it," he said, smiling nicely. Weird. She'd never seen that kind of smile on Potter's face. It had always been a smirk, or laughing at someone else's expense. "I have something I need to tell you, and I'd like you to hear me out. I'm 99 percent sure you'll get mad at me, but please let me finish. When I'm done, you can yell at and hex me all you want. If you remember, you have two wands and I have none." Lily looked at him. "Please?"

"OK," Lily said, still susupicious. "I'll listen. But at the end...fear my wrath."

"Oh, I do," said Potter. "OK, so you know I woke Remus last night, and sent him down to you." Lily nodded. "Well that wasn't the whole story."

"Where are you going with this?" Lily asked him.

"No interruptions; you promised," James reminded her. "But I beg you, any hexes you use, please make them healable." Lily consented; she did not want to be responsible for lasting damage on another student. "Anyway, what Remus said last night was only partly true. I did hear you crying and got Remus, but--" he seemed reluctant to talk, "I actually saw everything. Your fight with Snape, and your whole conversation with Remus." Lily was outraged. Everything? It was supposed to be private!" She opened her mouth to yell at him, but he said, "Ah, ah, ah, I'm not done yet." So she closed her mouth and sulked. "This is a secret I need you to keep. I have an Invisibility Cloak. I was walking around the grounds last night, and when I came back to Gryffindor Tower, I saw you and Snape arguing. I watched until he left then followed you through the portrait hole. When you started crying I went and got Remus, then watched the conversation with him. After you went upstairs, Remus told me to take some of what was said to heart. I've been up all night, thinking in the Common Room. And here's what I've come up with. I'm sorry. I never understood why you were friends with him. Well, I still don't, but I'll respect it. You and Moony were right. I need to grow up. It's probably going to take a while, but I'll try. And when I'm better, would you consider--don't say anything," for Lily had opened her mouth again "--would you consider being friends? Remus said it: I really do like you. But if friends is the farthest I can get, that's still an accomplishment.

Lily sat, thinking hard. "Where did all this come from? Who are you and what have you done with James Potter? Just yesterday you were an arrogant bullying toerag."

"Like I said, I was up all night thinking. I want to be an Auror, but I doubt they take me how I am now. I have to be an Auror. I hate, hate HATE the Dark Arts. I wanna be the one to capture Voldemort, then laugh in his face about how good always conquers evil."

Lily looked at Potter. This was a side of him she'd never seen before. She kind of like it--no, he had to prove himself first. But she'd thought he would open up a joke shop, or go work at the Ministry; someplace he could be safe and prank people. She hadn't thought he'd become an Auror. It just seemed too...serious for him.

"OK," Potter said, standing up. "I'm done. Have at it."

Lily looked at him. Se walked toward him, and slapped him in the face. _That felt good_. she thought. "That's for what you did to Severus yesterday." She punched him on the nose, next. "That's for eavesdropping last night." Then she took his hand and shook it. "That's for getting Remus to calm me down." Finally, she got on her tip-toes and gave him a hug. "And that is for everything you've said this morning." She turned around and began walking away.

"That's it?" Potter asked, confused. "That's all you feel like doing? I give you my wand and tell you you can do anything you like, and you punch and slap me?" Lily looked at him and nodded. "You're a better person than I thought," he told her. he caught up to her and they walked into the Great Hall together, blood still trickling from his nose.

Severus looked up and saw them entering together, put down his fork, and hurried over to them. "Lily, what are you doing with him?" he asked her.

"Talking," she told him shortly, then kept walking. She knew if she kept talking to her ex-best friend, she would start crying again.

"Why?" Severus asked. "We hate him!"

"You hate him," said Lily. "I just can't stand him. And _we _don't do anything together anymore. I thought I made that clear last night, Snivellus. Don't talk to me anymore."

And with that, she turned and walked out of the Great Hall.

James watched Lily leave, the remembered she hadn't eaten anything. He grabbed some toast and marmalade, put it in a napkin and went off to find her.

He looked in the first hall of classrooms and was about to give up when he heard a sniffle in the next one. He walked in and saw Lily sitting on a desk, crying. He walked over to her and handed her the toast. "Here," he said. "I saw you didn't eat."

"Thanks," she said thickly. Then she laughed. "God, Potter, stop being nice to me, or I might decide I like you."

James laughed, too. "Sorry," he said. "Do you want me to stay? Go? Get Remus? Get Alice?"

"Could you go get Alice?" Lily asked him. "I need some girl talk."

"Of course. See you later--oh wait!" James exclaimed. "Can I have my wand back?"

"Yeah, here," Lily said handing it back to him.

James held on the wand that Lily had been possessing for the last quarter of an hour. He walked out of the classroom smiling.


End file.
